Lessons learned helps him raise his children

“I’ve got good kids for real, man. They are so good and so polite. They believe in abiding by the rules and laws. They have a high level of respect for everybody, even more so for people older than them. I sometimes wonder if they’re my kids. Stroke of luck, I guess. It sure wasn’t genetic.

“I was a rebel. Growing up, I didn’t obey the rules. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. There were a lot of things I shouldn’t have been doing back then, and the law caught up with me. I’ve mellowed out. But still, all that time I was wasting, I could have been seeking a higher education. I could have been making something more out of myself.

“What’s in my past, what’s on that piece of paper, some people judge you by that. But at the end of the day, I try not to let my past keep me down. I try not to let it discourage me or demotivate me. That’s something I can do for me.”

Do your kids know about your past?
“Oh, yeah. My two boys were raised by their mom, and I’ve been raising my girls with a different lady. My youngest daughter is going into the 10th grade and the other one graduated in 2018. I didn’t expose them to my previous lifestyle. But we live close to the hood. So when we go through there and one of my daughters asks why those people are all standing around looking like that, I tell them the truth. They’re all out there strung out on drugs. They’re sitting on that corner like vultures, waiting on anybody who’s lame to the game that they think they can get over on, scheme, con or just flat out rob.

“Some fathers might not be that honest with their kids. But that’s like bringing a baby cub into your house, nursing and feeding it, taking care of it, and then releasing it into the wild. That cub is not going to survive because he’s not aware of what the real world is all about. Those vultures out there are going to devour him.

“So while I don’t expose my kids to it, when they see it, I identify it and break it down for them. I do what a father is supposed to do. I tell them the truth. Because if I don’t, who will? And I watch my kids closely. I know it’s sinking in because of their positive actions and their behavior. The proof is in the pudding.”

— Marsay Harper